RALEIGH, N.C. – Elias Lindholm scored a hat trick as the Carolina Hurricanes posted a 5-1 preseason win over the Buffalo Sabres at PNC Arena on Friday.
Lindholm led all scorers with his first career three-goal night in the NHL, as Nathan Gerbe and Jeff Skinner added singles, and goaltender Cam Ward made 19 saves to help earn the win, Carolina’s second of the preseason.
It was the Hurricanes’ sixth preseason game and second against the Sabres, following a 2-0 loss in Buffalo back on Sept. 23.
Forward Chad LaRose, who is still in camp on a professional tryout with the team, made his first appearance in an NHL game since April 2013.
His appearance on the ice was cheered by the 7,890 in attendance, but his presence was brief, yet memorable.
At the 3:28 mark, LaRose received a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding, the result of putting a blindside hit on Sabres defenseman Josh Gorges behind the Buffalo net.
The Hurricanes penalty killing units were put to the test and managed to successfully kill off the penalty.
“It’s probably our best effort to date,” Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters said.
“Good in a lot of different areas. I really thought the penalty kill gave us a spark in the first period there. That’s five minutes that could have turned the tide in their favor and it never, so hats off to the penalty killers.”
From there, Carolina began a four-goal scoring run that began with 1:32 left in the first period.
Gerbe roofed a one-timer over Buffalo goalie Michal Neuvirth, finishing a well-executed two-on-one with Alexander Semin to put the Hurricanes ahead 1-0.
Jay McClement earned an assist in helping to set the play up.
Semin, wearing an ‘A’ on his sweater, played an energetic game and worked to move the puck and create scoring opportunities – exactly what Peters expected of him when he had the letter placed on his jersey.
“He’s a big part of what we do,” the coach said of the Russian forward.
“He’s gotta’ be part of that leadership group and he’s gotta’ play valuable minutes and be a star. He’s got all the talent in the world. We need him to be a good player and he’s capable of bein’ a good player.”
Coming into the game, Carolina’s power play ranked third in the NHL preseason (6-23, 26%) while Buffalo’s penalty kill was sixth.
The Hurricanes added to their totals, finishing 1-for-5 on the man-advantage, thanks to Lindholm’s first goal of the game at 3:46 in the second period.
The Swedish forward tucked in the rebound from defenseman Andrej Sekera’s (2a) point shot and extended the Carolina lead to 2-0.
Victor Rask also assisted on the goal.
It was just 59 seconds late when Skinner beat Neuvirth with a one-timer from the middle slot after Gerbe dug the puck out of the corner with a quick turnaround backhand pass to him and the Hurricanes held a three-goal lead.
Lindholm then put Carolina further ahead, 4-0 at the 10:03 mark, when he got a cross-zone pass from defenseman Ron Hainsey on a play initiated by Ryan Murphy.
Lindholm’s wrist shot beat Neuvirth cleanly, but he was hit on the nose as the result of a follow-through by the stick of Buffalo’s Andre Mezaros who challenged on the shot.
Lindholm was shaken up a little while celebrating his goal, but was fine and continued to play on.
At the other end of the ice, Ward looked confident and aggressive in challenging shots from all angles and only let one get by him on the night.
“Yeah, maybe a little too aggressive at times,” Ward said of his play.
“During the first period, it felt really good. I felt comfortable. I felt real good in St. Louis. I wanted to carry it into tonight and the guys played really well in front of me.
“It quickly changed to a mental game where you try to stay involved and stay sharp mentally because you weren’t facing many shots.”
The goalkeeper said that staying loose was the key for him.
“Less is more,” he continued.
“Less thinking. That’s a lesson I’ve tried to incorporate into my game. I’m just goin’ out there and tryin’ to have some fun instead of thinking about everything too much.”
Shortly after Lindholm’s second goal, the Hurricanes had a four-minute man-advantage opportunity when Marcus Foligno was called for roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct, and a subsequent 10-minute misconduct.
The Sabres penalty kill denied the Hurricanes any opportunity to convert on those extra-man opportunities.
Buffalo then got its own power play opportunity during the period with Semin in the penalty box for tripping.
Jake McCabe found himself wide open and put a shot from the top of the slot past Ward, cutting Carolina’s lead to 4-1 with 4:12 remaining in the period.
Even while showing some lapses defensively during the third period that allowed Buffalo more chances to score as they put 10 shots on net, Ward and the defense completed their job successfully and kept that from happening.
“I thought all six guys were solid in here tonight and contributed in their own way,” Peters said of the team’s defense corps.
“I thought Gleas(on) was physical and the rest of them moved the puck real well. I thought Murph made some good decisions on the power play. All in all, my first impression of the back end tonight was very positive. We’ll watch tape to confirm that and see what we can improve on.”
With 3:46 remaining in the game, Buffalo pulled Neuvirth from the net and Lindholm completed his hat trick as he dumped the puck towards the open goal from the neutral zone following an outlet past from Justin Faulk.
“I didn’t want to waste too many goals out there in the preseason,” Lindholm concluded with a smile.
“I hope I can score some other ones during the season.”